Well, I opted out of taking a pricey sidetrip to what the Finns call the "official home of Santa" in Lapland, so I'm afraid the only reindeer picture I have is the one above. (Pause for wincing and gasps of horror) Yes, poor Rudolph, it seems as though the Finnish like their reindeer the way the Australians like their kangaroo: well-done. This picture is of a "game fry" stand in the Market Square.Before this visit I wasn't aware that Helsinki is a fairly young city (as far as European cities go). Apparently the Swedes (Finland was part of Sweden for a looooong time) built a fortress on the harbor in 1746 and then founded the town of Helisinki to supply the fortress. Finland was then part of the Russian Empire in the 1800s, resulting in quite a few Russian-style buildings, and had a period of expansion starting in the mid-1800's, resulting in heaps of Art Nouveau buildings. The photo above is of a typical Helsinki side-street. If you don't care about Art Nouveau or architecture or when Sweden or Russia was in control of x, y, and z, then I'm sure your eyes are already glazed over and I won't bother apologizing for this paragraph.
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